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Multiple-Meaning Words

A multiple-meaning word is spelled and said the same way but means different things: a bat flies at night, and you hit a ball with a bat. Context is the only clue, which is why these words are such good reading practice.

Here are 120 multiple-meaning words from past ClueBy puzzles, each with a real example sentence for every meaning. Use them as a reference, or make a printable worksheet below.

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Students read each sentence and write the missing word. Every word appears in several sentences, each time with a different meaning.

Words on the sheet
468
Word bank
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Multiple-Meaning Words

Name: ____________________Date: __________

Write the missing word from the word bank in each sentence. Each word is used more than once, with a different meaning each time.

Word bank: mine · shower · kid · drill · rash · stand · degree · fan

  1. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  2. I can't ________________ this cold.
  3. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  4. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  5. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  6. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  7. I am not a ________________ of shrimp.
  8. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  9. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  10. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  11. Are you a huge ________________ of trains?
  12. Don't do anything ________________.
  13. The train was so full that I had to ________________ all the while.
  14. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  15. Can you turn the ________________ on?
  16. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  17. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  18. A smaller training pitch was installed beside the main ________________.
  19. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  20. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  21. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  22. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  23. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  24. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.

Sentences from ClueBy, Tatoeba (CC BY 2.0 FR) and Common Voice (CC0). clueby.com

Answer key

  1. mine — belonging to me
  2. stand — to bear
  3. rash — on the skin
  4. mine — an explosive
  5. kid — to tease
  6. shower — to wash
  7. fan — a supporter
  8. shower — rain
  9. shower — a meteor shower
  10. degree — from a university
  11. fan — a supporter
  12. rash — hasty
  13. stand — on your feet
  14. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  15. fan — to cool the air
  16. degree — an amount
  17. drill — a practice
  18. stand — for spectators
  19. mine — for digging
  20. drill — army training
  21. drill — the tool
  22. kid — child
  23. degree — temperature
  24. rash — a series

Multiple-meaning words list

Tick up to 10 words to build a worksheet with just those words.

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Frequently asked questions

What are multiple-meaning words?

Words with the same spelling and pronunciation but more than one meaning, like bark (of a dog or of a tree) or bank (for money or of a river). You can only tell which meaning is meant from the rest of the sentence.

Are multiple-meaning words the same as homonyms?

Mostly, yes. Teachers often use "multiple-meaning words" and "homonyms" for the same idea. Homophones are different: they sound alike but are spelled differently, like flour and flower.

Are the worksheets free?

Yes. Make and print as many as you like for home or classroom use. Each sheet has its own link, so you can print the same one again.

Where do the words come from?

From past ClueBy puzzles, a daily game where you sort twelve sentences by their missing word. A new puzzle every day adds four more words to this list.

Sentences from ClueBy, Tatoeba (CC BY 2.0 FR) and Common Voice (CC0). clueby.com